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After 40 years, desertion charges

Investigators say a man living in Tarpon Springs walked away from the Marines to avoid the Vietnam War.

By GRAHAM BRINK
Published August 17, 2005

TARPON SPRINGS - As a young man in 1965, Jerry Texiero did not want to fight in Vietnam.

So, one summer day, Texiero deserted the Marine Corps, authorities said.

For 40 years, he lived under an assumed name in the shadows of civilian life.

Until Tuesday.

"He was living here," said Tarpon Springs police Sgt. Jeff Young. "We don't know for how long."

Marine Corps investigators alerted the state probation office Tuesday morning that Texiero was wanted on an active warrant issued in 1965.

Texiero, who used the name Gerome "Jerry" Conti, was on probation from a 1998 fraud and grand theft conviction in Pinellas County.

The Marine Corps, which fingerprints new recruits, said a fingerprint analysis showed that Conti was actually Texiero. It was unclear when or why the Marine Corps conducted the analysis.

State probation officials called Tarpon police detectives, who questioned Texiero. At first, Texiero denied it was him, Young said. Then a detective showed him his official Marine Corps photo.

"Okay, it's me," he admitted. Texiero later told the detective he did not want to go to Vietnam, Young said.

Texiero was stationed at Camp Pendleton in California when he deserted, authorities said. Public records indicate he spent some time in South Carolina and South Florida in the 1980s. He lived in Pinellas County in the mid 1990s.

As Gerome Conti, he ran Suncoast Classic Auto Sales Inc. at 1331 Cleveland St. in Clearwater. The business closed in May 1996 after complaints arose that Texiero stole about $100,000 from customers.

Texiero was accused of selling the same car to two people. Another time, he sold a car on consignment but never paid the owner, according to police records. In a few cases, he never delivered cars to the new owners.

Authorities tracked him to Arizona. He was charged with 15 counts of grand theft and one count of scheming to defraud. He was sentenced to six months in jail and 20 years of probation, according to state records.

Since he was using the well-established Conti alias, a routine background check would not reveal an outstanding warrant for Texiero. The Marine Corps investigators could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.

Texiero, who is 64 according to his driver's license, was arrested and will face a desertion charge. That could result in a court martial and possible military prison time.

He also faces state charges of violating probation and possessing a fraudulent driver's license. He remained in the Pinellas County Jail on Tuesday night.

Many of the details of Texiero's past 40 years remained a mystery late Tuesday. It was unclear whether he had married, had children or stayed in contact with family after leaving the Marines.

Investigators are trying to piece together where Texiero went after Camp Pendleton and what he was doing. It is unclear whether he made up the Conti name or whether he assumed someone's identity, Young said.

"There could be additional charges depending on what we find out," Young said.

Most recently, he had been living in an upstairs apartment on a quiet, middle-class street in Tarpon Springs.

No one answered at his apartment Tuesday evening. The white Mercedes he usually drives was not in the driveway.

His neighbor, Barak Alexander, 34, said the man he knew as "Jerry" had been living alone in the upstairs apartment for at least a year.

He nearly always dressed in Hawaiian shirts with a sailboat motif, Alexander said. The two neighbors did not talk about work. Alexander did not know his last name.

"He seems like such a nice guy. He kept to himself," Alexander said. "And they come and arrest him 40 years later? Seems like a waste of time."

Times staffers Tamara el-Khoury and Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Graham Brink can be reached at 727 893-8406 or brink@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 17, 2005, 01:23:20]